defs.clamshell-fe.com
Emulator definitions, about once a day in the background and from Settings › About › Update emulator definitions. A plain request for the signed file. Nothing about you or your games.
Privacy
No ads, no tracking, no account.
Clamshell doesn't send your library, play history or settings anywhere. Crash reports and anonymous usage are only sent if you turn them on, and both are off until you do. This page lists every time Clamshell goes online, and why.
This statement covers the Android app. A desktop app is in development and will get its own section before it's released.
Going online
What Clamshell connects to
defs.clamshell-fe.com/release
At most once a day: the free build checks the signed note behind its new-version reminder, and patron builds check the one behind "Update available" in Settings › About. Nothing about you or your games. Promo builds never check.
art.clamshell-fe.com
Console logos, about once a day and from Settings › About › Check for new console logos. Nothing about your games.
telemetry.clamshell-fe.com
Only if you turn on Send crash reports or Share anonymous usage, and only the fields listed under Opt-in diagnostics below.
ScreenScraper, SteamGridDB and IGDB
Only for the art sources you turn on under Settings › Library › Scraper. Game names, file names, sizes or checksums needed to find art, sent with your own account or key. IGDB signs in through Twitch. Each service has its own privacy policy.
Libretro thumbnails
When that source is on: requests for box art by game name, with no account.
Your RomM server
Only if you use the Clamshell RomM add-on, and only to the server address you entered.
Paste from phone
Only while its QR code is on screen. Clamshell runs a small page on your Wi-Fi so your phone can paste a key. It accepts one paste, then stops, and is never reachable from the internet.
Web servers, including Cloudflare's for the clamshell-fe.com hosts, see the IP address of each request as part of how the internet works. We don't log or keep anything beyond what Cloudflare does by default, and the diagnostics server drops the IP address entirely.
Off by default
Opt-in diagnostics
Setup asks once, on its "Help improve Clamshell" step, and Skip leaves both off. Change either any time in Settings › About › Privacy. The two are independent. Nothing goes through Google Play Services or a third-party analytics service: the app sends plain JSON to our own server, telemetry.clamshell-fe.com.
Both carry a random install ID that isn't tied to you, your device or an account. It's made when you turn either one on. Turning both off deletes it, and turning one on again makes a new one, so old and new reports can't be linked.
Send crash reports
When Clamshell crashes or stops responding, it queues a report and sends it the next time it's online. Turning this off deletes any report still waiting. Each report has:
- Install ID
- Kind: crash, not responding (ANR) or native crash
- When it happened
- App version, build number and build (free, patron or debug)
- Device model, Android version and API level
- Performance mode (Lite, Standard or Rich)
- Stack trace: exception types and code locations only. Exception messages are dropped, and anything that looks like a file path, link, email or IP address is replaced.
Kept for 90 days.
Share anonymous usage
At most once a day, only on Wi-Fi or another unmetered network:
- Install ID
- App version, build number and build (free, patron or debug)
- Home layout: Console, Grid, XMB or Minimal
- Theme family and appearance (System, Light or Dark)
- Performance mode, detected and chosen
- Single or dual screen, and whether the phone launcher is on
- Systems with games: 0, 1–5, 6–10 or 11+
- Games: under 100, 100–999 or 1000+
- Cold start: time from launch to Home on screen, in 10 ms steps
- Jank: share of slow frames in the last measured window
Kept for 1 year, and only looked at as totals.
Never collected
Game titles, file names, folder paths, app names, account names, keys or passwords, and IP addresses. Promo builds never send diagnostics, and debug builds only do for testing.
On your device
What stays on your device
Library and settings
Your library, play history, favorites, Home layout and settings.
Accounts and keys
Encrypted with a key held by Android's keystore on the device. They're left out of Android's cloud backups and device transfer.
The crash log
When Clamshell crashes or stops responding, it writes logs/crash.log on the device and, if you've set a data folder, in Clamshell's folder there. The log itself is never uploaded; you can attach it to a bug report yourself.
Backups
Android's own backup skips the encryption key, accounts and keys, downloaded art and logo caches, the crash log, queued crash reports and device-only settings. Clamshell's own backup (Settings › About › Back up now) is a file in your data folder that you control.
Questions
Contact
Ask on Discord, @clamshell_fe on X or Patreon, or email hello@clamshell-fe.com.